Healthy Sexuality Is Best Taught by Both Parents and Educators, Experts Say

Some Ontario residents have begun organizing to support school-based sex education after the province recently ditched its proposed health program amid criticism that it was too mature. More than 85 percent of Canadian parents want schools to teach sexual and reproductive health, and youths cite schools as a primary source of this information.

Critics, including several religious groups, especially objected to references to homosexuality in third grade, to vaginal lubrication in sixth grade, and to anal sex in seventh grade. However, about 900 people have joined an online Facebook campaign urging Premier Dalton McGuinty to proceed with the plan.

"Children are still looking for information," said Tayyab Rashid, a Toronto School Board psychologist. "They are hard-wired, I believe, to be curious about sexuality around puberty. My concern is that most of this is factual and age-appropriate knowledge - in an age where there is a deluge of sexualized content in the media to which many kids are exposed without supervision."

Anal sex would have been introduced in the context of explaining transmission of STDs and helping adolescents sort out what constitutes sexual activity, said Lyba Spring, a sexual health promoter with Toronto Public Health. Many of the topics critics object to are already being raised by youth, she said. "Public health staff has always answered all the questions," she said, adding that withholding information "is dangerous because we're talking about prevention and protection" against risky behavior.

When adults - parents and educators - do not talk openly about sexual health, kids may not consider them credible sources of information or guidance, said Shannon Boodram, author of a collection of essays by youth about their sexual experiences. Many kids who got STDs or experienced sex too early reported they did not believe they could turn to adults for help, she said.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.


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